Excerpts from Kalaa Maa’s Observation Log

General Entry 042, DateREDACTEDLocation: Shared Area of the The Silver Didiford.

Well, Dirky isREDACTEDup more than usual. Contaminating the bay with chemicals… at least he didn’t contaminate it the same way as before. And apparently, the contamination coming into contact with what is effecting Cerun Tate creates a rather interesting toxin. That is at least interesting. If nothing else, Dirky is rarely boring.

In other not boring news, Kast was up to violent shady business as suspected. He apparently scouted a junction being occupied by some raiders with an eye for liberating it and the slaves within. It was apparently the side of a grand, for the villagers atleast, battle and why one of the major fountains is no longer functioning. Shoja is constructing some arc grenades to serve as distractions so that Kast can poison the raiders’ beds. I’m hitching myself to this as well. Beyond making a simple poison, I think I am going to bring Minion along. If this raid is successful, he will probably be lauded by his peers, which may be useful in the near future.

Also, what the hell else do I have going on?

General Entry 045, DateREDACTEDLocation: Ttriwk’s Warrior Village

We’ll that was more a slaughter than a raid. Luckily we had to do a little clean up, so minion got his glorious battle, some heroic injuries, and some liberated slave to take back to their village. I’ve instructed the other former slaves and set them to shore up the settlement which is now theirs. Gave a rather nice speech if I do say so myself.

The more interesting important matter is this one raider. While Kast was poisoning the beds, this raider and this raider alone looked at a point above the central fountain, towards what appeared to be nothing, and started crying. He then pack a few of his things, killed the two gears at the entrance, and left. Shoja followed him while Kast, Minion, and I dealt with the aftermath.

As Shoja tells it, the man went far into the bottom of the ship, wrangled a selection of different space plankton, and then returned to make amends with the former slaves with his gifts and the promise of no more violence. He left again at this point, as oddly as he came.

This requires resolving.

General Entry 048, DateREDACTEDLocation: Cole Edmir’s Camp

Led by Shoja, we tracked the man to his camp. Shoja attempted some pleasantries but he is apparently quite the quiet stoic sort. I pushed things a bit more to the point. The man’s name is apparently Cole Edmir and what made him cry was, he claims, the revelation of some glowing being. I don’t know about any glowing entities but he is strongly suffused with the Force. Sure, it is the wrong aspect but what can you do? As for as I can tell, this is some sort of intense Force awakening. Maybe he is naturally gifted or maybe there is some… thing that did this. There is not enough yet to go on.

At the least, he seems to be worth allying with for now, since he seems to have intimate knowledge of the ship. Indeed, he seems to be convinced that he will stay with us until showing us to particular sections, which suites me as I want to check out the highest floors. The prospect seems to make Kast nervous, as he has sensed something off putting up there. I can wait for a bit, particularly as Shoja hopes to undertake a trip to the largest entertainment section. However, we only have so much time till the manufacturing of our ship’s new drive finishes.

Excerpts from Kalaa Maa’s Observation Log

General Entry 030, DateREDACTEDLocation: Ttriwk’s Warrior Village

We’ve met our first group of people and they are not a debased as I thought they would be. Far from the hotplate squatters we found evidence of, these people seem to have actually found a way to sustain an agrarian lifestyle. They even have a strong social structure to provide direction and guidance, evidenced by our first contact through one Elder Ttriwk.

From what Ttriwk has told us and by observing the mixed village of primarily Wookies and Noghri (see Zoological logs to information on these races of humanoid), these people have been here a very long time. Centuries at minimum. It seems they were possible slaves of the original operators of this ship, with different races being forced to work in different areas of the ship towards different ends. In addition to the Wookies and the Noghri, there are lemuroid Lurmen and their are references to an avian Mriss people.

While these folks seem to heavily value honor and warrior prowess, they have developed agriculture using some functions of the ship like ornamental fountains, a severely limited stock of seeds, and recycled space plankton husks for soil and fertilizer. Quite impressive, really. They have turned what looks like an old entertainment district into a more than just sustainment-level life village.

Our arrive is apparently cause for some minor celebration. Apparently, they don’t come across new groups of people who aren’t raiders very often. Thus, a modest feast is apparently in order. I’m going to monitor their preparations and see in what ways I can help. Their assistance could be useful until we repair the ship.

Botanical Entry 01, DateREDACTED

These people already have a very efficient system set up. The base of everything is the herding of space plankton. In addition to the body and slime being used to various purposes, the dried remains are ground into a fine substrate that works as a nutritious faux soil. This is further fortified with feces taken from an junction of the ships sewage. Quite clean and ingenius given the circumstances.

The choke point in their agriculture comes at the level of biological variety. Indeed, there seem to be almost more races of people than races of plants. They appear to have a crossbreeding project in place that has produced a modicum of variety. From what looks like ojomian white onions they have made a yellow onion or vice versa. It only took them, most likely, a few hundred years…

The choke point comes down to a lack of seed variety. I’ve done a nutrient analysis of the soil with Haro’s sensors and compared their available profiles with the stores of provisions on the ship. I think the two following fruits we can provide will be viable in the village and will provide the best nutrition.

I’m certain the Elder will be pleased by my results. Easy points with these people. Especially when I introduce some possibilities for crossbreeding. Their onions can be further varied with our vegetable stocks and crossbreeding.

One last note, or more accurately, a puzzle. By all rights, these people should be malnourished. Their lack of fruits at the least should have lead to various vitamin deficiencies. At the moment, I don’t have an answer to this but perhaps their ingenuity goes beyond what I have seen thus far.

General Entry 034, DateREDACTEDLocation: Ttriwk’s Warrior Village

Well. That went better than expected. And I expected it to go well. Hundreds of years eating onion and space plankton gruel apparently does a number on a people. I showed Elder Ttriwk my plans and instructions and out group went from an exiting surprise to heros of the people almost in an instant. Any more accolades and we would have been in a parade…

It is… off putting. Attention isn’t sometime I seek or do well with.

Regardless, we’ve definitely won us some allies. Heck, one of the warriors has pledged himself to me. I’ve dubbed him Minion and took him to the ship, of which he was suitably awed. My fellow apprentices are similarly taking advantage of our new position. Shoja has apparently acquired a domicile from some one the higher ranked members of the society while I’m guessing Kast is going to attack the communities enemies to gain favor. It’s almost a shame we will be leaving in a bit. Brings to mind what that creepy Lurman whispered to me, passing it off as prophecy to the crowd:

Excerpts from Kalaa Maa’s Observation Log

As expected, the hyper-drive was gigantic and impossible to move, let alone attach to the Silver Didiford. More fortuitously, finding the ships manufacturing facilities was not difficult. Interestingly, the general ease of use seemed to match what we found in the bay with the docking procedure, meaning everything was as automated as possible. Almost all Ms. Kato had to do was put in a schematic for a loader and the drive and the machinery came to life and started to get to work. It will take more than a week, which is both impressively quick, given that a hyper-drive is being made, and infuriatingly long, as this mean we are stranded here for the interim.

Stranded but not alone. To access the manufacturing console, we had to clear through the detritus of recent squatters. The fools had used a live current to make a hot plate of sort, to give you an idea of the degree to which they had debased the equipment. A bit hilarious as they could have manufactured a room full of cooking devices with a simple schematic write up. Admittedly, one shouldn’t expect much from these being, whatever they are. It seemed they had chained a captive up in a corner, leaving said captive to defecate where he stood… disgustingly near to where they ate. Like I said: debased.

We have mag-locked the door behind us to let the manufacturing to unimpeded as we explore more of the ship.

Oh, yes, and I should mention one of our group has fallen from illness or poison. See the medical file of Mr. Tate for more once I have him under observation.

General Entry 028, DateREDACTEDLocation: Tower Elevator #REDACTED

The rest of the ship is similarly automated like manufacturing and the dock. However, it is not necessarily as directly useful. The food production facilities needs organic matter to actually prepare and we are unsure if the oxygen scrubbers and any associated hydroponics facilities are working. For all we know, we are breathing diminishing oxygen stores. I would be worried if it wasn’t for the size of the ship. We likely have enough to go around with just the dregs.

Then again, we are sharing the ship with more than just space mites [see zoological logs]. As we made our way towards a VIP area, we noticed some humanoid peaking at us from ahead. We did not catch a good look, even after I had Haro start recording corner checks. The Miralukan did his little invisibility trick again, and surprised them. They apparently scattered after he disarmed most of them. A missed opportunity as all he could tell us was they appeared human or near-human.

Our path has been obstructed again by mechanical issues, in this case an elevator whose shaft has been obstructed. A simple matter for Shoja, who is rather handy to have around, and I. Once clear, I hope to find more amiable being higher in the ships. We seem to be moving closer towards intelligent life.

Medical File: Cerun Tate. DateREDACTED

Subject was found immobile but stable outside of the manufacturing area. Immediate examination showed him to have no trouble breathing but otherwise was unresponsive. First prognosis was either an unknown poison or an unknown fast acting air-borne illness. Before continuing on, we returned to the Silver Didiford for more complete observation.

Assisted by Dr. Voll, we confirmed that Tate had been stricken down by a previously unknown poison. It will take some time to develop an antidote, if such a thing is possible. However, as per the orders thatREDACTEDhas given us, we won’t be immediately attempting to bring him out of the coma and instead willREDACTEDREDACTEDREDACTEDREDACTEDREDACTEDREDACTEDfor now. If experimentation is needed, we will just have to use an alternate body. We will try to find one discretely but Dr. Voll will of course be made to volunteer if necessary. I will of course, at least wait till his recent bruises have healed.

The Derelict

Excerpts from Kalaa Maa’s Observation Log +7xp

General Entry 018, DateREDACTEDLocation: Shared Area of the The Silver Didiford. (Corellian Vanguard-Class)

Kast has entered the… it almost isn’t fair to call it a ship. At some point you must make a judgement defining the deference between a construct made for moving people or things and… an artificial city? A super weapon? What do you call something over 20 klicks long in space? Usually an asteroid or a small moon… Ultimately, I am still not sure what this derelict is or if it is even as derelict as it seems.

What I can tell thus far is that much of the docking procedure is automated, which makes sense for something this size. There appears to be a long port running the length of the visible side which, given the size of the singular docking bay Kast is in, points to an immense capacity for in and out going traffic. I lean towards the theory that much of this must have been commercial… but it should be noted that there are at least 5000 basic sub-light-speed fighter craft.

We are entering via the same simple procedure Kast, used. I expected the interior to be as impressive as the exterior. Hopefully, it is just as… still.

The interior beyond the bay offers more clues but no definite answers. This ship obviously housed an immense number of people and attempted to provide for most of there needs, not simply the basics. For example, instead of simply providing some entertainment programming via terminals in quarters, there seems to have been what amounts to entertainment districts as one might find in a city. This continues to support my theory that the ship was not exclusively military but housed a substantial civilian population. Perhaps a colony vessel? Speculation, true, but speculation is the first step towards discovering fact.

To run this… world, immense amounts of power would have been needed. There is a basic schematic here in this security station listing 12 large main reactors and much supporting hardware throughout the ship. Not too surprising given that the needs of a large city had to be met along with the draw of a class 0.6 hyperdrive capable of pushing the derelict’s mass. We are heading to one of the hyperdrives now, ostensibly to take one and repair the ship… which I find doubtfully possible. Our technology is compatible, as was seen when our trooper was able to charge his weapon at what appeared to be a civilian recharging station. However, something tell me the drive will be too large and unwieldy to move or attach to the Silver Didiford. Whoever built this, they certainly did not believe in miniaturization.

Zoological Entry 01, DateREDACTED

Well, there is certainly life on this ship. Unfortunately, it is more nuisance than help. Two of our… esteemed fellow apprentices chose to go off on their own once we landed on the derelict and the initial encounters with the parasites were theirs. Kast walked straight into a floating mass of Void Plankton, a simple lifeforms in many ways analogous to the microscopic foundational lifeforms of many planets’ oceanic ecosystems. Like most things on this ship, however, they are not diminutive. I learned this as Kast flung one at me to observe more closely… he claims. I have a good sense of its mass and dimensions as I batted it back at him and saw it… splat against the wall.

Shoja was more careful in her encounter and for good reason. The Plasma Leeches, again much larger than the word ‘leeches’ normally implies, gave off enough heat to melt metal paneling along the derelict’s interior. Indeed, when we encountered them again, they almost seemed to be an insurmountable obstacle as we apprentices are all close combatants and would have ahd difficultly approaching the creatures. Luckily, we have troopers and troopers have guns. While I have no plans on being in the cross hairs of such arms anytime soon, I must remember to develop my capabilities to deal with such situations. Less I end up like the poor, disgusting plasma leeches, I should work to disabuse myself somewhat of some of the more unnecessary Sith affectations, such as the tendency to rely exclusively on a saber.

The Mission: Spend up to one standard year conducting a minimum of six months of surveillance. Gather data, both overt and covert, from no fewer than fifty sources. At least ten sources must be Republican in origin.

The Ship: A Corellian Vanguard-Class light corvette named The Silver Didiford.

The corvette can be flown by a single pilot, and it is equipped with heavy shielding, two sets of dual laser cannons, and missiles. The ship’s interior is laid out over two decks, and a secure holoterminal, transceiver, multiple conference rooms, and a medbay are among the vessel’s numerous amenities.

The Crew:

Excerpts from Kalaa Maa’s Observation Log +7xp

General Entry 012, DateREDACTEDLocation: Shared Area of the The Silver Didiford.(Corellian Vanguard-Class)

I have met the crew of our ship and my fellow Sith apprentices. As to be expected, the apprentices are wary of each other. After all, for all we know one of us has been told to murder all the others on board or given some task by their master that involves violence of some sort. We are still disposable tools at the moment, so why not throw us out like active grenades and see what happens. I’m quite glad by mission is simply toREDACTED.

Other than myself, there are three of us. The Miralukan’s chest personality is interesting. He is keeping a stern and cool demeanor until either he thinks he has figured us out or slips up. I have not known many Miralukans but I know to be careful around him, if only because I may not see what he sees with his sightless understanding of the world. I wonder how he flies that ship of his.
The human, Cerun Tate, is a roguish brute or a brutish rogue, which I am not yet sure. I will have to see him in action to understand if he focuses on challenges with intelligence and planning or his short-sighted immediate desires and urges. One way or another, I think he may be a bomb. It has yet to be seen if he has a short or a long fuse.

Surprisingly, there is another Togruta. One Shojo Kato. I have not… interacted with many of my people in a long while. At least outside of a lab environment and that was a particularly… one-sided sort of interaction. One can’t tolerate too much chatter from the lab rats. Ms. Kato seems to have some wits about her. You can tell she is a fighter like the human but she carries herself with more grace. She is a martial artist more than a brutish killer. Though, of course, the two needn’t be mutually exclusive.

I have less of a sense of the crew, though I do feel that they, perhaps, resent… babysitting apprentices. For all our training, we are to my knowledge inexperienced in the sort of work these people do. They are military soldiers. They are professional while the machinations of Sith and the squabbles of apprentices are often anything but. The trooper Jakkar is delicious at least is attempting to lubricate the tension between the apprentices. Getting the others to play cards is definitely babysitting but at least it seems effective. Too bad he’s… cavorting with his fellow trooper Boza.

After the apprentices noticed a sound from the shared area, I quickly went to the cockpit to alert the pilot. A quick scan revealed unknown objects on both the engines located on the sides of the ship. As the objects were on the pressurized inside and not in the void outside, I returned as fast as I could to move through the wall and get to the object on the starboard side. It is disturbing that, given where it was located, the object was likely not attached after takeoff. I reached the object, which was a bomb of some sort, removed it, and threw it out a small airlock. Shoja worked on the port side but was unfortunately unable to remove the bomb on the other engine. Confirming what I thought about her martial ability, she was able to leap out of the way of the explosion. I guess there are some advantages to training in the dojo rather than the lab. I would have expected the Miraluka to have been with us but he was in the cockpit. Strange. Cerun stood by, since I guess this was a problem that slashing or shooting was unsuited too.

While Haro has a recording of the bombs’ sounds, I only looked at the device itself for a moment before ejecting it. No useful identification could be made. Durky should have got up from cargo so I could have a second set of eyes. Now he one blackened. Not by me. By the turbulence of the explosion.

Kast is out in his ship now, scouting the surroundings. I am eager to hear of what he finds outside.